Garment protector



, 51.514 V 98 K G- 5 3 5 A. F. D. PEARSON GARMENT PROTECTOR Filed Dec. 31, 1936 Patented Mar. 31, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT PROTECTOR Alice ,F. nreerso Lowell, Mass.

Application December 31, 1936, Serial No. 118,579

. 3 Claims.

This invention is a protecting cover for clothing, and particularly for womenslight one-piece dresses. Its particular purpose is to allow a womans dress or coat or a mans light overcoat to be placed on a coat hanger withv the usual transverse curved shoulder supporting bar and with .a hook projecting upward, from the middle part thereof.

Its purposes .areto allow such a garment to hang from the shoulders without being folded, and to protect the garment from dust and dirt, to help .keep it smooth and pressed, either when hanging up or when being carried around, andin the preferred type, to allow the garment to .be seen through the .materialeither from the front or the back.

I am awarethat shoulder protectors made of Cellophane have been used and patented, and that garment bags have been made which have a hole at the top through which the hook of a hanger can project and which are open .at the bottom or at the front or both, and that .such bags have been made with .a holeat the top for the hook of a hanger and permanently open at the bottom and provided with fasteners along one side.

While such arrangements may have their uses in shops and for .transportinggarments through the street, to accomplish the particular purpose of this garment protector, I .find that while as much as possible of the .t,op,1bo ttom.and sides" should be permanently sealed, it is highly necessary that .the openings should be so made that a person who is .not skilled can introduce into .the protector, .a garment on a coat hanger and then, quickly close the opening. sufficiently to protect the garment and to keep the hook, the hanger and the garment in place andthe hanger bar horizontal so that the garment .will .hang straight.

I accomplish this in a general way by perma- Cellophane, and each having a top, a bottom and two sides. I

I will also speak of the left side and rightside, having in mind that most persons are right handed and that the opening is, therefore, provided at theright'hand side at the top and along the right edge to accommodate such persons.

While the cover is especially-useful for long,

"light ladies dresses, it can be made shorter for nently fastening theleft hand edge, the bottom,

and part way up the right hand side andalso the left hand side at the top, leaving the right-hand side of the .top and the balance of the right hand side unattached except by snap fasteners so located .that the above objects can be accomplished.

While this garment'cover might be made by folding a suitable sheet of -material along one edge and fastening the other edges, 'for convenience in the description I will describe it as made up of a front sheet and a back sheet, both of substantially the same shape and 'both substantially rectangular, each made :of a flexible mens coats and vests, and by providing a straight bar under a bowed shoulder bar, a pair of pants can be folded and hung over it, the whole being properly protected.

An important featureof the device is that the top left border is permanently closed up to almost the center while the top right border is closed by snap fasteners, one of which is aboutthe same distance from the center as the stop or end of the closure is from the left. This snap fastener should be so, close to the center that after the shank of a hook is introduced, it can be quickly closed by either hand.

As womens dresses are now relatively long, it I is important that the bottom should be sealed, that the right side should be sealed partway up, that the left side should be sealed and at least part of the top. This permanent fastening and sealing, either by cem.ent,-by stitching or by both, holds the whole assembly together making it easy to'pack, ship and handle, and it is also important that at least the upper part of the right side and preferably the right side of the. top should be quickly separable.

In the drawing, Fig. l is an elevation of a protector with'hanger and garment inside, parts being broken away to show the inside.

Fig. 2 is a detail showing the relation of a coat hanger to the top of the protector.

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional details showing the manner in which the front and back sheets are attached together.

Fig. 5 is a plan View of a protector with the snap fasteners unfastened.

Fig. 6 is a front elevation, Fig. 7, a side elevation and Figs. 8 and 9, front elevations showing .an approved process of introducing a garment on a hanger into the protector.

Fig. 10 is an elevation of'a Cellophane protector with hanger and garment in place.

Figs. 11, 12, 13 and 14 are sectional detail views showing different methods of making, connecting and reinforcing front and back sheets.

Fig. 15 is an elevation, with parts broken away,

material, such as cloth, paper, or transparent F of a modified type of protector.

Figs. 16 and 17 are sectional details showing different methods of permanently attaching certain borders of the front to the back sheets.

Fig. 18 is an elevation of another modified form of protector and Fig. 19 is a horizontal sectional view thereof on line |9|9.

Fig. 20 is a view similar to Fig. 19 of another modification.

Fig. 21 is a diagram showing how the device can be rolled up.

Fig. 22 shows the top part of a modified shape.

Fig. 23 is an elevation from the right side of a cover with stiffening wires.

In the drawing, A represents a front sheet and B a back sheet, each having a right side III which is open from the top down to perhaps 6 inches from the bottom at H where the sheets are stitched together by stitching 2|, a bottom edge I2, the borders being stitched together at 22,'a left side I3, the borders of which are stitched at 23, a top left hand side I4 stitched together at 24 and a right hand side I5, the borders of which are not stitched together as will be explained.

The stitching of the two sheets together starts at 2| and extends around the borders at 22, 23, 24 and ends at a stop a little to the left of the top which, as shown, is strengthened by a snap fastener I, thereby leaving a central hole l6 for the hook 90 of the hanger H. At the right hand side of the top, each sheet is stitched or hemmed at I and preferably the side edges are finished selvage edges while the top and bottom material is turned over and in perhaps an inch, so that the threads will not ravel out, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Another snap fastener 2 having the male and female parts 95 and 96 is positioned the same distance from the center on the right as the stop 7 is from the left and there is another snapfastener 3 at the upper right hand corner and running down the right hand side are snap fasteners 4, 4 a suitable distance apart, say perhaps 6 inches.

With this arrangement, as shown in Fig. 6, the whole cover is grasped with the left hand L near the center with all of the snap fasteners 4, 4 unfastened while the right hand grasps a hanger H on which is hung a garment D.

This hanger and garment can be introduced with the right hand between the flaps 28 and 29 at the top until the shank 9| of hanger H is over at the middle I6 whereupon snap fastener 2 is snapped together either by the left hand or the right hand, as shown in Fig. 8, whereupon the hanger, held in the left hand, will support the cover and the garment while the right hand It snaps together the other fasteners 4, 4.

Where the material used is cloth, which is more or less flexible, the cover can be folded in transverse folds from top to bottom for packing or shipping, but when, as shown in Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, the sheet material for the back F and front C is transparent Cellophane, which is slightly brittle and not as tough as cloth, it may be desirable to reinforce all of the edges as by a cloth tape such as T. Two thicknesses of such cloth tape T are preferably used either on the inside, as shown in Figs. 11, 12 and 13, or on the outside, as shown in Fig. 14 and Fig. 23.

At the right edge and the right side of the top, each tape is sewed to its adjoining sheet as at 31 or 38 while on the rest of the right side, at the bottom, at the left side and the left side of the top, the stitching 39 goes right through two thicknesses of tape and the two sheets.

In addition to the stitching, the tape may be cemented as by cement I39 to the adjoining sheet, as shown in Fig. 14.

In Fig, 10, the snap fastener is omitted, but there is a space left at 36 through which the hook of the hanger can pass. The end 239 of the stitching 39 serves as a stop.

Front sheet C and back sheet F are of transparent Cellophane.

The garments shown .are a pair of pants 83 and a man's coat 84.

The border at the bottom marked 3| of the right side, the border of the bottom 32, the border of the left side 33 and the border of the left side 34 of the top, as shown, are permanently fastened together as by stitching 39 which goes through the front and back sheets and two thicknesses of tape T which may be either on the inside or the outside, and this may be reinforced and smoothed by cement I39.

The border of the right side 35 of the top and the border of the right side itself 30 are fastened together by snap fasteners I92, I93 and I04. Fastener I02 is substantially the same distance to the right of the center of the top as stop 239 is from the left.

It is obvious that with a suitable cement, all of the stitching such as 31, 38 and 39 could be omitted and the tapes T cemented to the sheets as by cement similar to I39.

As shown in Fig. 15, it is obvious that the left edges andif desired, part of the top, bottom and right edges or borders of the Cellophane sheets G and K can be fastened together by a wider cloth tape indicated by V, and that this could be attached to the sheets by flexible cement 98, 98, as shown in Fig. 16, or by stitching 99, 99, as in Fig. 17, or obviously by both.

In Fig. 15, two sheets of Cellophane G and K are used and the right and left edges are treated in the same manner as in Fig. 10. In other words, tapes such as V are stitched in place by stitching such as 50, 5| and 52, but at the top and the bottom I provide two extra strips such as J, J and M, M of stiff material such as Celluloid, these being cemented in place as by cement 53, 54, 55 and 55, 51, 58, the purpose being to allow the article to be folded in horizontal creases and to stiffen up the top and to some extent the bottom so that it will help to retain the shape of the Cellophane and hold it in a sort of light frame whereby wrinkles and creases will be avoided and the view of the garment inside will be better. 59 indicates the left hand fixed stop and 69 the right hand top' middle snap fastener, the other snap fasteners being indicated by S.

Instead of being stitched, tapes such as T or V could be stuck or cemented to the Celluloid sheets, as shown in Fig. 19, without any stitching.

In Fig. 18 I show a construction in which two sheets 0 and N, both rectangular, are used. These might be transparent Cellophane or cloth, or N might be Cellophane and O cloth. These are shown as stiffened all the way around by extra strips of Cellophane or cloth, such as 40, 4|, 42, 44 which are stuck to them, there being no stitching whatever. The bottom, left side and top are permanently attached and sealed except for a hole 45 at the top for the shank of a hanger H, but the whole of the right side is provided with snap fasteners 41, 41.

As shown in Fig. 19, the layers of cement or other adhesive are represented by P. It is more difficult to get the garment and hanger in place inside this type of cover, but in some places, such as stores, this is an advantage as it keeps the garment better protected, flat and prevents people from handling it,

As shown in Fig. 20, I can use a single sheet of Cellophane or cloth indicated by Q, bent at the left side I60 and without any reinforcing strips. I can attach the right hand side or the right hand side and the right side of the top by the two halves GI and 62 of snap fasteners.

The bottom edge can be stitched or stuck together and the whole of the left side of the top can be similarly closed, always leaving a hole in the center for the shank of a hanger.

While it is not essential, it is desirable that the sides and body should be sufficiently flexible so that the whole article can be rolled up in a loose roll, as shown in- Fig. 21, where 10 represents the bottom edge and H the top edge.

Instead of the front and back sheets bein of rectangular form, as shown in Fig. 22, the top of two sheets such as U and Y can slope from a hole 8| to the right and left, as shown at 82 and 8B, the borders being fastened in either way, but in every case, the left side of the top, the left side, and the bottom being permanently fastened and sealed, but the right side or part of the right side, either with or without the right side of the top, being detachably fastened either by snap fasteners or by some other type of fastener, as indicated at W.

Instead of using strips of Celluloid such as J, J and M, M shown in Fig. 15, I can, as shown in Fig. 23, which is an elevation from the top right, fasten cloth tapes 63 and 64', which are folded in at the top and at the bottom, to the Cellophane sheets C and F by two rows of stitching 6'! and 68 in such a way that at the top of each there would be left a loop or pocket through which steel or metal wires 65 and 68 can be passed.

The tendency of these wires is to hold up the flaps at the top right openings and make it easier to place the garment on a hanger in the cover.

I claim:

1. In a garment cover, the combination of a front and back sheet, each made of similar flexible transparent Cellophane, each having a top, a bottom and two sides, the borders of the two sheets being fastened together ,at the top, at the bottom and at both sides by flexible cloth strips, the borders at the bottom of the right side, at the bottom, at the left side and at the left of the top as far as a stop a little to the left of the center being permanently fastened together, and the right side of the top and the upper part of the right side being provided with separable fasteners, one part attached to the border of one sheet and the other attached to the border of the other sheet, there being a snap fastener at the right of the center of the top about the same distance from the center as the stop is from the left.

2. In a garment cover, the combination of a front and back sheet, each made of similar fiexible material, each having a top, a bottom and two sides, the borders of the two sheets being fastened together at the top, at the bottom and at both sides, the borders at the bottom of the right side, at the bottom, at theleft side and at the leftof the top as far as a stop a little to the left of the center being permanently fastened together, and the right of the top and the upper part of the right side being provided with separable fasteners, one part attached to the border of one sheet and the other attached to the border of the other sheet.-

3. In a garment cover, the combination of a front and back sheet, each made of similar flexible transparent Cellophane, each having a top, a bottom and twosides, the borders of the two sheets being fastened together at the top, at the bottom and at the borders of both sides by flexible cloth-strips which are stitched to the Cellophane, one strip at the top being a loop, the borders at the bottom of the right side, at the bottom, at the left side and. at the left of the top as far as a stop a little to the left of the cener being permanently fastened together, and the right of the top and the upper part of the right side being provided with separable fasteners, one part attached to the'border of one sheet and the other attached to the border of the other sheet, and an elastic wire stiffener in the top cloth strip loop.

ALICE F. D. PEARSON. 

